


I Just Want To See You Smile

by ColourAndCity



Series: Sin-ui Johwa [1]
Category: ATEEZ (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Clairvoyance, Demons, Discussion of Death, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Ghosts, M/M, Major character is a ghost in this series, Murder Mystery, Nymphs & Dryads, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Tags Contain Spoilers, Vampires, Wakes & Funerals, Werewolves, Witches, detailed descriptions of food
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24471643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColourAndCity/pseuds/ColourAndCity
Summary: Constantly plagued by poltergeists and otherworldly beings, Wooyoung finally gave in and decided to move away from home and into the dorms of the specialty college he attended just before the start of junior year. Of course this was no ordinary school as it contained every type of student from humans with supernatural gifts to mythical creatures. It was a strange place but Wooyoung wouldn't trade his rag tag group of friends—Seonghwa the witch, Hongjoong the vampire, San the fox demon, Yunho the werewolf, Mingi the incubus, and Jongho the dryad—for the world.Wooyoung may have been a clairvoyant but there was no way he could have known how much meeting Yeosang was about to change his life forever.
Series: Sin-ui Johwa [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830124
Comments: 19
Kudos: 66





	1. Chapter 1

A small old dilapidated hotel stood on the outskirts of the city. Long since abandoned, wildlife had entirely reclaimed the front of the building, large trees obscuring the view from the main road. Any passerby would probably not even notice the building unless they left the main road and made their way all the way down the winding drive to the front gates. 

In years past, it had often been a place where teenagers went to hang out and conduct less-than-favourable activities but recently it had been seeing fewer and fewer visitors as an ominous and foreboding feeling had begun to loom over the property. 

Anyone who dared set foot on the land now would barely make it to the front door before their hair stood on end and every inch of the body screamed to turn back or run away. It had since become a much more popular location for viral “challenge” videos where if you could make it to the front door and knock three times you would receive infinite internet points that rarely actually amounted to much in the real world. However very few had actually been successful and as time passed and the novelty had quickly worn off save for the odd urban explorer with nerves of steel looking to investigate a new urban myth.

On this night in particular the crescent moon was high in the sky, not providing much natural light and a small black cat sat watch on the front steps of the building. From the outside, all that could be heard were the quiet chirps of crickets from the nearby fields or the gentle woosh of a passing car from the distant main road. On the inside it was a much different story.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the building as Wooyoung sprinted down an empty corridor.

“Seonghwa!” He cried out, half out of breath with sweat dripping from his brow.

A ghostly apparition appeared in front of him and he quickly reached into his oversized hoodie’s pocket, grabbing a fistfull of dried red beans—a common item used by Korean shaman to expel unwanted spirits as the red colour was said to scare them off—whipping them at the spirit. It immediately disappeared with a loud screech as Wooyoung ducked his head and continued running.

There was a flash of blue light and a series of horrifying ghoulish screams as Seonghwa tumbled out of the open door of a room down the hall. He almost appeared to somersault across the hall, hitting the opposite wall hard with his back. Brandishing a long black wand in one hand it sent several more blue flashes into the room as more screams erupted.

“Seonghwa!” Wooyoung repeated as he ran over and crouched down beside him. “You alright?!”

“Yeah, yeah I’m good. They just caught me off guard.” Seonghwa said with a bit of a wheeze as he pulled himself up to his feet, angrily pushing his once perfectly-permed dark wavy hair out of his face. “Nothing I can’t handle.” He frustratedly blew at a stray hair.

“Turns out there’s way more than we thought.” Wooyoung said as he got back to his feet as well. “And they’re not poltergeists, they literally all grudges.”

“How many?” Seonghwa said, clicking his tongue in annoyance while brushing dust off his stylish all-black clothes.

“Seven.”

“Seven?! How annoying. Was this place a gang hideout or something? Honestly.” Seonghwa gave his neck an agitated crack while rolling his shoulders. “I just took out two, that leaves five remaining. Alright let’s make this quick.”

Wooyoung just nodded and turned to lead Seonghwa back downstairs. Before they could even take a step, the apparition from the hall had reappeared.

“Get down.” Seonghwa instructed and Wooyoung immediately ducked.

Flicking his wand over Wooyoung’s shoulder, in another flash of blue light the ghost disintegrated with foul cry and Wooyoung slowly rose back to a fully standing position.

“Four.” Seonghwa noted with a huff. “Where are the rest?”

Wooyoung furrowed his brows and stared at the floor as a couple images flashed in his mind.

“One in the sitting room downstairs and the rest in the main lobby.”

“Got it.”

Several loud crashes, two broken doors, a near-deadly chandelier mishap, and many more blue flashes later, the interior of the old hotel finally fell silent again. Both Wooyoung and Seonghwa sat on the dusty floor of the main lobby, breathing heavily and covered in a smattering of dust and cobwebs.

“Anymore?” Seonghwa breathed heavily.

Wooyoung just shook his head while gulping loudly, being severely out of breath from all that had just occurred.

“Thank the gods.” Seonghwa sighed as he leaned his head back against the banister of the main staircase. “I don’t know how long I could keep that up.”

“I know what you mean.” Wooyoung wheezed, crumpling over onto the floor and rolling onto his back.

“Wooyoung please, the floor is filthy.” Seonghwa lamented.

“I don’t caaaare.” Wooyoung groaned.

They stayed there for some time as their heart rates and breathing finally calmed back down to something that could be considered normal. After several minutes a loud meow could be heard from outside the front door, which had been blocked off from the inside with a pile of broken furniture. Seonghwa let out a long sigh.

“Yes Dal, I hear you.” He called back in response. “We’re coming.”

Slowly Seonghwa got back to his feet, bending down and extending a hand to Wooyoung to pull him back up. A grimace spread across his face when he caught their disheveled reflection in a large cracked mirror that had been propped up against a wall in the hallway leading to the back entrance. In a swish of his wand, all of the dirt and various debris had been magically removed from their skin, clothing and hair as if nothing at all had just occurred.

Once they stepped outside the building, Seonghwa gently took hold of Wooyoung’s wrist. He carefully turned it upwards revealing a series of matching runes on both his and Wooyoung’s wrist. Tapping his wand against the runes they let off a soft blue glow before quickly fading until they had completely disappeared from their skin.

“Thank you for letting me borrow your sight.” Seonghwa said as he tucked his wand into a loop in his belt.

“No problem.” Wooyoung said. “It’s easier than me trying to describe the thing that’s about to kick your ass as it’s happening in real time anyways.”

Seonghwa let out a small laugh, shaking his head as he gave Wooyoung a playful shove. 

“Please, it would have kicked both our asses if we hadn’t been working together. We make a good team though.” Seonghwa scoffed with a small smirk. “You find them and I blast them back to back to the netherworld.”

“No better way to do it.” Wooyoung replied confidently.

As they walked around to the front of the building, navigating the overgrown landscaping, Seonghwa was quick to fish his smartphone out of his pocket and make the call that the job was complete.

“Hello, yes this is Park Seonghwa—

Yes—

We took care of it. However, you could have told us that it was a series of grudges and not just a single poltergeist. It made our work _much_ more difficult. As such I would request a rather hefty tip from your end —  
Understood —  
Great. Thanks.”

Seonghwa hung up and stared at his screen for a moment before a loud ping rang out notifying him that a payment had been deposited. Wooyoung’s phone also let out a ping and he quickly pulled it out to check the amount.

“Six hundred thousand won!?” Wooyoung said in disbelief.

“I know.” Seonghwa said with a disappointed sigh. “I feel like these jobs get more and more taxing every time and yet we get paid mere pennies.”

“I mean, I was about to say this was amazing.” Wooyoung laughed. “But I’m sure you’re used to much larger payments.”

“Indeed.” Seonghwa replied. “I’ll be sure to get more out of them next time.” 

He gave Wooyoung a playful wink before heading towards the front entrance of the hotel.

“Dal, come here my sweet boy.” Seonghwa said in a loving tone as he knelt down and motioned towards the small cat that was still waiting on the front step.

The cat let out a happy chirp and sprinted over to him. He quickly scooped it up in his arms, allowing it to climb up onto his shoulder and having it sit perched there. 

“Who’s a good familiar? You are.” He said in a doting voice, scratching under the cat’s chin as it purred loudly. “You did a good job tonight keeping watch. Time for us to go home.”

“I guess I’ll see you in two weeks when the semester starts up?” Wooyoung said with a bit of a sigh.

“Let me know if you need any help moving in. If they give you any issues, just mention my name and I’m sure they’ll get things sorted for you.” Seonghwa replied with a smile as he walked over and grabbed a large broom that he had left resting against the outer wall of the building.

"Will do.”

Seonghwa sat himself sideways in an almost elegant manner on the handle of the broom. With a small kick and a casual wave he flew up into the air and almost immediately disappeared into the night. With a sigh—wishing he had any sort of reliable mode of transportation like Seonghwa—Wooyoung begrudgingly began the twenty minute walk to the closest night bus stop so he could head to his grandparents’ house for his last night at home before moving into the school dorms.

***

It was almost the beginning of a new school year and Wooyoung would be starting his junior year of college at an exclusive school for those with “exceptional talents.” By exceptional they didn't exactly mean those students who excelled academically or in sports or the arts. Instead, the school focused solely on those who had supernatural abilities, human and non-human alike. The school educated everyone from human telepaths and witches to otherworldly beings ranging from fairies to demons to supernatural halflings. 

Wooyoung was on the lower end of the supernatural spectrum compared to many of his classmates as humans were definitely the minority at the school. He wasn’t even a witch like Seonghwa, instead he simply had clairvoyant abilities thanks to ancient ancestors of his being shaman. Neither his siblings or his parents were blessed—or cursed—with clairvoyance so he had always been a bit of an outsider within the family. 

Often his dreams would end up predicting the future. They were never grand prophetic revelations, usually small, insignificant events like when a pop quiz might be or what the cafeteria special was going to be on Thursday. But his strongest power and also his greatest weakness was his ability to see and communicate with ghosts and other spirits. His unintentional ability to attract malicious spirits however would often put his family, especially his baby brother in danger and it had gotten to the point where he could no longer live at home.

He had been spending the summer living with his maternal grandparents as they were the only ones who truly understood and shared his abilities. As they were growing older and lived far out in the countryside, not wanting to be a burden on them he had decided to seek other living arrangements during the school year. This year he had finally decided to live in the private campus dorms.

The school tuition was not cheap and the dorms were not exactly economic either. This made it quite difficult for the average middle-class family to be able to afford to even send their children to the school. Wooyoung’s family was by no means poor but the added costs of living on campus would have definitely added another unneeded strain on them financially. He was extremely lucky in that Seonghwa was one of his closest friends and he just happened to come from a very old, very wealthy and very connected coven of witches. His family had offered to help pay for Wooyoung's tuition—also getting him bumped to the top of the housing list—in exchange for helping Seonghwa every now and then when needed for an exorcism or two to earn some extra cash for living expenses.

So far their plan had worked wonderfully. Wooyoung only needed to help out a couple times a month and between the two of them they had managed to gather enough money to cover the first semester’s dorm payments while Seonghwa’s parents covered the tuition fees. Wooyoung was incredibly grateful towards Seonghwa and his entire family even if to them it was a small price to pay to have a powerful clairvoyant on their side.

The dorms typically opened two weeks before the start of the new semester and Wooyoung was due to move in that morning. Gathering up his limited belongings in a large suitcase, he said goodbye to his grandparents and headed out towards the bus stop to make the hour and a half journey to the western suburb of the city where the school was located. 

It was sunny, humid and warm when he left but the closer he got to the city, the darker the sky became as storm clouds had started to roll in. As clairvoyant as he was, he only wished he could have had some sort of vision to serve as a reminder to pack his umbrella which he only just remembered he left on the front step while he was leaving. Letting out a long sigh, he rested his head against the warm glass window of the bus as he hoped the rain would stay away until after he had moved in.

After the long journey getting to the campus, getting his room assignment and making the trek across campus to the right building, Wooyoung finally made it to the room he’d be calling home for the next nine months. Taking a quick lunch break of a double helping of delivery black bean noodles he then began the arduous task of unpacking and rearranging everything to his liking. It wasn’t like the room was very big or that it contained much furniture apart from bunk beds, desks and storage closets, but he felt like he could at least try and make it feel a little more homey.

It was nearly 2pm when Wooyoung’s phone rang, Seonghwa’s name popping up on the call display.

“Hey Seonghwa.” Wooyoung answered, putting it on speaker phone as he worked to continue unpacking his small dorm room.

“How are things going? I saw the weather is rather miserable and rainy today, hope that didn’t cause any issues getting to campus? Did you remember an umbrella? You didn’t, did you. I really should have sent a car for you.” Seonghwa rambled on the other end.

Wooyoung momentarily looked outside to see that it was absolutely pouring out now.

“It’s really fine. I made it in before the rain.” Wooyoung replied. “Also, I already get nagged enough by my grandma, I don’t need another mom. Chill.”

“Hey I’m just looking out for you!” Seonghwa retorted, his voice increasing in pitch in mild offense.

“I know, I know and I’m super thankful for all the strings you’ve managed to pull for me.” Wooyoung continued in a more sincere tone. “You know I’m just joking.”

“So where did they put you up?”

“Fourth floor of Building C.”

“That rundown old place?” Seonghwa let out a long sigh.

“It might be the farthest from the campus center but at least it’ll convince me to get in some exercise each day. And I’ve got a nice view of the ravine so that’s nice I guess. Sure the room is just boring concrete block walls and I have to share the showers with thirty other guys but who doesn’t like living in the mild equivalent of a jail for a few months?” Wooyoung laughed.

“It’s really a pity though as the rest of us are in Building A on the other side of the campus. I was even able to secure a suite for Hongjoong and myself with our own private bedrooms and ensuite bathrooms.”

“Look at you two living the high life. I guess you’ll just all have to make the hike to come see poor old me then.” Wooyoung laughed as he threw some clothes in the small wood chest of drawers provided in the room. “On the bright side it looks like I’ll have a double room to myself so I won’t have to ask permission if you guys _do_ want to visit. They haven’t assigned anyone to take the top bunk so it’s all yours if any of you feel like staying over for a movie marathon or two. Although they put me on an all-human floor so it might be a bit harder trying to sneak San past the RA if he’s not careful about his tail.”

“An all-human floor? How positively _boring_.” Wooyoung could literally hear Seonghwa rolling his eyes as he flopped back down on his bed.

“Hey I’ll take what I can get.” Wooyoung continued. “Besides, you literally _are_ a human Seonghwa.”

“Yes but that doesn’t _mean_ I also don’t find us incredibly boring.” Seonghwa scoffed. “Anyways I’ll let you continue to settle in. But do call if there is anything else you might need. Yunho and San will be moving in at the end of the week so I’ll have them check in on you when they do.”

“Yes, _mother_.” Wooyoung replied mockingly before hanging up.

***

It was quite late but the time Wooyoung had finally settled in for his first night in his new room but it was not going to be a very restful night. As soon as he had fallen asleep he began having a rather strange dream. He kept having flashes of the ravine behind the dorm building and imagines of rushing water but none of the images pieced together to make any sort of sense. 

Around 3am Wooyoung was abruptly awoken by what sounded like someone softly crying. He groggily looked around his room thinking the sound must have been coming from the hall.

“Freshman.” He grumbled to himself as he rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

The crying didn’t stop though. It went on for what seemed like forever. Wooyoung tossed and turned, even trying to pull his pillow over his head to drown out the sound but it just wouldn’t stop. Finally it got on his last nerve and he threw off his blankets and strode towards the door to his room, forcefully yanking it open.

“Hey quiet d—”

There was no one there. 

The hall was completely empty. But the crying sound still persisted.

A shiver ran up Wooyoung’s spine as he quickly doubled back into his room to throw on some slippers and grab a handful of dried red beans to shove in his pocket just in case he came in contact with a not-so-nice spirit. He cautiously shuffled down the hall but the sound didn’t become any louder or quieter as he went meaning it must not have been coming from any of the rooms on his floor. 

He quietly knocked on the door of the floor RA. It took a solid few minutes for the RA to answer and they did not seem to be at all amused that they were being awoken in the middle of the night.

“Hey, um, so that crying sound is kind of really starting to weird me out.” Wooyoung stammered out. “Would you mind looking into it? Someone might be in trouble or something.”

The RA just looked at Wooyoung as if he had grown a second head.

“What crying?” He asked.

“ _That_ crying.” Wooyoung said, gesturing to the air around him. “You can literally hear it right now… can’t you?” 

Wooyoung suddenly became very apprehensive of the situation.

“I literally don’t hear anything.” The RA replied. “But I’ll have someone look into it in the morning. Go back and try to get some rest.”

Wooyoung just nodded and reluctantly shuffled back to his room. He sat on his bed and stared at the wall in heavy contemplation. If the RA couldn’t hear the crying it most definitely only meant one thing: it had to be some sort of spirit. As the minutes ticked past the soft crying continued and his sleep-deprived agitation was quickly mounting. Maybe his dream had something to do with all this? He turned and pulled back his curtain to look out the window at the dark ravine below.

 _Hey is anyone up?_ Wooyoung texted his friend group chat.

An ellipses flashed on the screen for a couple seconds before a response appeared.

 **Hongjoong:** _I am. But what are you doing_ _awake?  
__It's like 4am...  
_**Wooyoung:** _I knew I could count on you to be up!_ _  
_ _Bless your vampire sleep schedule.  
_**Hongjoong:** _Would you rather me suffer through_ _the day? No thanks.  
_**Wooyoung** : _Anyways I have a problem…  
_**Hongjoong:** _What’s up?  
_**Wooyoung:** _So there's been a bit of an issue at_ _the dorm…  
__Seonghwa when you eventually read_ _this just look away. It's fine.  
_**Hongjoong:** _Tell the RA and have them deal with_ _the person.  
_**Wooyoung:** _Except I don’t think it’s a person…_ _  
_ _Anyways, I’m gonna go head down_ _to the ravine and check it out.  
__If I die, you’ll know where to find my_ _body.  
_**Hongjoong:** _WTF do NOT go down there!  
_**Wooyoung:** _I’ll let you know what I end up_ _finding._ _  
_ _OK BYEEE~  
_**Hongjoong:** _Please don't do anything too stupid…_ _  
_ _Like, don’t actually get yourself killed.  
_**Wooyoung:** _I’ll try not to~_

It was still fairly dark out but as it approached 5am the sky was starting to lighten ever so slightly. It was however still drizzling from yesterday, the temperature also having dropped several degrees. Taking a deep breath and mulling over a course of action, Wooyoung knew it would drive him absolutely insane if he has to continue listening to the crying every night for months so he pulled out one of his hoodies, put on some decent shoes, shoved his phone in his pocket and headed out towards the ravine.

It was miserably cold and wet for an August morning and as there was no defined path down to the ravine, the slippery grass made the hike somewhat treacherous. There were numerous signs warning of the dangers of the ravine such as mudslides and flash flooding and to stay out but Wooyoung just breezed past them, ducking under the rickety wooden fence that separated the property and immediately heading into the wild brush.

As he got closer to the old creek bed, the terrain became steeper and more difficult to traverse. Wooyoung ended up having to grab onto tree roots and other foliage to right himself and he lowered himself down. By the time he reached the large rocky creek, his pants were covered in a layer in dirt and mud from losing his footing half a dozen times.

Despite the rain from the day before, the creek was still oddly barely a thin stream snaking between the large rocks that surrounded it. At some point in time long ago it was a formidable river but the city infrastructure probably changed its path decades ago. Wooyoung began to follow the flow of the water downstream as the crying noises slowly became more apparent. He knew he had to be getting close. The louder the crying became, the faster his heart also began beating.

After walking about fifteen minutes Wooyoung finally laid eyes on the source of the noise. Sitting on a boulder-sized rock at the edge of a creek appeared to be a person. Except it wasn’t a person at all because they were ever-so-slightly transparent and had a faint blue glow about them.

They were most definitely a ghost.

And they were just sitting there, softly crying to themself.

Carefully Wooyoung dug his hand into his pocket as he approached the boulder and pulled out one of the dried red beans. He placed it on the palm of his hand and gave it a forceful flick with his finger. The bean went sailing through the air, hitting the ghost directly in the side of the head below the temple, immediately passing through it and causing it to dissolve into thin air. Several seconds later the ghost slowly reappeared in the same spot, holding tightly onto the side of its head.

“Ow, that really hurt.” It said in a small yet forlorn voice as it rubbed the spot the bean had hit with a sleeve-covered hand.

Wooyoung fumbled where he stood causing a loud clatter of the rocks around him. The ghost quickly looked up and turned towards him in a startled state. As they made eye contact Wooyoung slowly reached into his pocket to grab more beans. The ghost quickly shuffled atop the rock to fully face Wooyoung. 

Wooyoung couldn’t believe what he saw. It was only a young boy who looked around the same age as him. He was wearing a large knit sweater with his hands tucked up inside the too-long sleeves in a child-like manner. He also oddly enough, didn’t have any shoes. This was no normal ghost.

“Can… can you see me?” It asked quietly with a surprised snuffle.

Wooyoung said nothing but slowly raised his fistful of beans, brows furrowed and ready to strike in an instant. The ghost’s eyes slowly fell on Wooyoung’s hand.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, please no!” The ghost blurted out, as if it was terrified of what Wooyoung might do, covering its head and cowering away.

Wooyoung slowly lowered his hand as he looked over the ghost with a confused expression. The ghost didn’t look like any of the poltergeists and grudges he was used to seeing. 

It just looked sad. 

It looked lonely.

Wooyoung’s heart sank. He immediately felt like he had to do something. He couldn’t just leave the ghost here all alone.

When the strike from the beans never came the ghost carefully peaked his head out again, slowly relaxing and lowering his arms.

“Were you the one crying?” Wooyoung asked calmly as he tucked the beans back into his pocket while taking another couple steps towards the boulder the ghost was perched on.

“You could hear that?” The ghost said as he wiped the misty tears from his face with his sweater sleeves. “Sorry.”

“What’s your name?” Wooyoung asked, climbing up onto a smaller adjacent boulder.

“Yeosang.” The ghost muttered as it pulled its knees in towards its chest, hugging them tightly.

“My name is Wooyoung.” Wooyoung said in a reassuring tone as he hopped onto the same boulder. “What are you doing down here all alone in the rain?”

Yeosang just shook his head before burying his face behind his knees. “I don’t know. This is just where I’ve always been.”

Wooyoung slowly sat down on the wet rock in front of the shy ghost and it quickly shuffled back another couple inches.

“You don’t need to be afraid of me, I won’t hurt you.” Wooyoung said in a warm tone.

“You pelted me with beans earlier.” Yeosang pouted.

“Sorry about that… I’m just used to dealing with much more sinister beings.” Wooyoung said with a sigh.

“But why aren’t _you_ afraid of _me_?” Yeosang asked, his eyes wide and curious under heavy wet bangs.

“Like I said, I’m used to dealing with more sinister beings.” Wooyoung repeated as he carefully unzipped and removed his hoodie, draping it over the shoulders of the ghost and pulling the hood up over its head. “Here, it’s cold out and you’re soaking wet.”

“Wh-what are you doing?” Yeosang asked, almost in a scared voice as the hoodie managed to hang off him as if he were a physical being. “You… do realize I’m dead, right? I don’t need this. You’ll get sick if you’re out in the cold!”

Wooyoung hunched his shoulders and crossed his arms to keep in what little body warmth he could muster.

“No. I can’t take this.” Yeosang asserted in a concerned voice, shaking his head.

“You need the comfort more than me right now.” Wooyoung scoffed. “You’re the one who has been out here crying all night.”

“Sorry I’m just… so lonely.”

“Why do you stay here? Why don’t you crossover then? If you’re not a malicious spirit, what’s holding you back?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think I can. I’m scared.” Yeosang said in a quiet voice. “I’ve been out here for so long I’ve forgotten why I was here in the first place and now I’m just sort of stuck.”

Wooyoung’s heart sank even more. He’d heard of lost spirits but he had never come across one before. Legends had said that they were often created from people whose life was taken from them too early or in an unjust manner. They also said that if the ghost forgot its purpose for remaining in the human realm it would be trapped in a sort of limbo until it either turned into a malicious spirit or eventually faded from existence as relatives slowly stopped paying respects. 

But Yeosang looked like the farthest thing from a malicious spirit. He seemed kind. Too kind to be stuck out here alone and scared until he was eventually completely forgotten about.

“Why don’t you come with me then?” Wooyoung said, holding out his hand towards Yeosang.

Yeosang looked between Wooyoung and his outstretched hand, his eyes welling with tears. He hesitated as he slowly pulled back his long sleeve and carefully reached out to touch Wooyoung’s hand. As soon as he made contact with Wooyoung’s skin he immediately flinched back as if terrified of the sensation.

“H-how am I able to touch you?” Yeosang stuttered out.

“Just a weird ability I have.” Wooyoung replied casually with a laugh. “Same as how I’m able to talk to you right now. Or how you’re able to wear my hoodie.”

Wooyoung nudged his hand closer to Yeosang and Yeosang just looked at him curiously. He was as intrigued about Wooyoung as Wooyoung was about him. Ever so slowly he placed his hand down. Wooyoung carefully curled his fingers around Yeosang’s small hand, gripping it tightly. Yeosang’s hand felt as cold as the air around them.

“You’re so… warm.” Yeosang muttered as the warmth from Wooyoung’s hand slowly began to permeate his own hand. “It feels nice.”

“Then let’s go somewhere nice and warm, okay?” Wooyoung said reassuringly.

“Thank you. I’d like that.” Yeosang said, a shy smile slowly spreading across his face as he ducked his head, mildly flustered.

“I want to see more of that smile, okay?” Wooyoung said, leaning down to meet his eyes and warmly smiling in return.

He gently wiped the tears from the corner of Yeosang’s eyes. “I’ll make sure you’ll never have to be alone ever again, got it?”

Yeosang just nodded, his smile becoming even wider.

***

**[Group Chat - 8:02 am]**

**Seonghwa:** _Wait what the hell is going on?!  
__Did Wooyoung really go down to_ _the ravine?!  
_**Hongjoong:** _No idea tbh. You know how he is.  
_**Seonghwa:** _Crying Creek is no place for_ _anyone to be alone at night.  
I’ve __heard rumours of a malicious spirit_ _living down there that’s known for_ _luring people in right before disaster_ _strikes… there’s a reason why the_ _area is off limits to students!  
People __have died down there!  
_**Jongho:** _Has anyone heard from him since?_ _  
_**Mingi:** _Nope._ _  
_**San:** _I’ve only been awake for like 2 mins.  
_**Yunho:** _He probably just fell asleep._ _  
_ _I wouldn’t worry too much.  
_**Seonghwa:** _Worrying is what I do. I excel in_ _worrying.  
_**Yunho:** _Just give him some time to respond._

**[Group Chat - 11:18 am]**

**Seonghwa:** _Wooyoung where are you?!_ _  
_ _There were reports of a flash flood_ _in your area last night._  
_It’s been hours. Nobody has heard_ _from you..._  
_Wooyoung please pick up._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags have been updated. Please make sure to check them before each chapter as additional tags may be added as the story progresses.

Everything was dark. But it wasn’t a natural darkness. It was  _ too _ dark. A thick blindfold must have been used as Wooyoung’s tired eyes tried and failed to focus. Only blackness surrounded him.

Slowly his surroundings began to piece themselves together through his other senses.

He was outside. He could smell the strong resinous aroma of the cyprus trees that lined the ravine. The air had a sharp chill about it and the grass was cold and wet from dew beneath his bare feet. Bare feet? Why wasn’t he wearing any shoes? Someone on either side of him had a strong grip around each of his arms as they hurried him along. He stumbled every few steps as he was unable to see the uneven ground beneath him to get a solid footing but those holding onto him made sure to keep him upright.

"Guys please, why are you doing this?" Yeosang's voice pleaded.

"You said you wanted friends, right?” A voice asked snidely nearby.

“Yes, but… but what is all this?” Yeosang continued in a small voice. “Please, I don’t like this. Where are we? I’m scared.”

“This is just a simple initiation, a fun little game. Friends play games together, don’t you want to be our friend?" The voice explained.

“I guess…” Yeosang’s voice caught in his throat. It was evident that he was quite frightened.

They abruptly stopped walking and Wooyoung felt himself get shoved to the ground and onto his knees, the wet grass immediately soaking into the fabric of his jeans. Someone behind him began untying the blindfold.

**_BANG BANG BANG BANG!_ **

Everything around him quickly fractured.

**_BANG BANG BANG BANG-BANG!_ **

Wooyoung was abruptly pulled from his sleep by the intense pounding sound of someone at his dorm room door. The loud noises had startled him so much his heart felt like it was about to leap out of his chest and he grasped at the front of his shirt in an attempt to calm himself down as he slowly tried to re-orientate himself.

**_BANG-BANG BANG!_ **

"Wooyoung?" A voice called from the other side of the door. "It's your RA, are you in there?"

Wooyoung groggily rolled over and grabbed his phone. Fourteen missed calls. Something must have happened and it must have been bad.

"Yeah, one second. I'm coming." He said in a weary voice, his tired voice cracking as he pulled himself out of bed.

His entire body ached and protested with every movement as he shuffled out of bed and towards the door. Upon opening it he came face to face with the floor RA who was on the phone with someone who sounded very frantic. Wooyoung just blinked heavily at him while leaning against the frame.

"Yeah, yeah he's here. He seems fine." The RA said to the person on the phone before lowering it from his ear and holding it out towards Wooyoung. "He wants to talk to you."

Wooyoung lazily took the phone and held it up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Oh thank the gods Wooyoung don't ever scare me like that ever again!" Seonghwa's voice rang out.

"Huh? Did something happen? What am I missing?" Wooyoung mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of one of his eyes.

"There was a flash flood last night and the last message you sent to the chat was that you were going to go check on something down in the ravine! We've been trying to get a hold of you for hours! I thought something might have happened to you!"

"What? No. I'm fine. Sorry, I guess I just fell asleep and didn't see all the notifications." Wooyoung replied, rubbing his face in an attempt to wake himself up a little more.

Seonghwa let out a heavy sigh. "Well… that’s good to hear. I guess I overreacted. I apologize."

"Alright, bye Seonghwa." Wooyoung said in a sing-song tone before hanging up and passing the phone back to the RA.

"Sorry about that, overprotective friend." Wooyoung said with a bit of a dry laugh.

"You  _ do _ know the ravine is off limits to students right?" The RA said in a reluctant tone.

"Of course. I'm not stupid." Wooyoung retorted with a bit of an attitude. "Who the hell would want to be out there in the middle of the night anyways?"

The RA just nodded and turned to leave without asking any more questions, Wooyoung slowly closing the door behind him. He looked over towards his desk to see his damp hoodie and dirt and mud-stained sweatpants hanging over the back of the chair. A clear reminder that he  _ had _ in fact been down in the ravine that night.

"Uh, Yeosang?" Wooyoung called quietly.

"I'm here." Yeosang replied in a small voice, materializing on the top bunk.

Yeosang calmly sat on the side of the bunk, dangling his legs over the edge while lazily leaning on the railing.

"I guess last night really did happen." Wooyoung said to himself with a small sigh.

Yeosang rested his chin on his arms with a small pout, swinging his legs back and forth while his eyes focused on the floor.

"You hungry?" Wooyoung asked.

Yeosang raised his head and looked at him with a confused expression.

"But I'm dead…" Yeosang just replied in a dry tone.

Wooyoung’s face puckered slightly as he just blankly stared at Yeosang.

“Alright well I’m starving so you wait here and I’ll be right back.” Wooyoung instructed as he turned towards the door.

Before Wooyoung had even taken a step Yeosang had materialized in front of him, blocking his path. Wooyoung startled slightly and quickly took a step back, his heart having skipped a beat.

“Please don’t leave me!” Yeosang said in a sad voice, looking up at him from under his fluffy bangs. “Take me with you!”

“Yeosang you can’t just startle me like that!” Wooyoung lightly scolded him as his heart rate struggled to go back to normal for the second time that morning.

“Sorry.” Yeosang replied in a tiny voice, shrinking away.

Wooyoung immediately realized he might be being a little too harsh on him.

“No, no, I’m sorry. You’re a ghost. It’s what you do. I need to get used to that.” Wooyoung said as he learned down to make eye contact with Yeosang whose head was hung low as he was fixated once more on a spot on the floor. “Maybe we should set up some base rules before we do anything else.”

Yeosang nodded slightly and disappeared once more, reappearing back on the top bunk of the bed.

“Okay so, first off if you’re going to materialize places try not to do so in a matter that will give me a heart attack, alright?” Wooyoung said with a bit of a laugh. “I’ll be of no help to you if I’m also dead.”

Yeosang nodded, cracking a small smile while balling his hands together between his knees.

“Secondly I’m going to need you to stay in my room, at least just for the next few days until I get things sorted out. This is a human-only floor and since you’re not exactly, uh,  _ human _ anymore I don’t want to get in trouble having you here. Wait, you  _ were _ human before... weren’t you?” 

“I… uh, I think so?” Yeosang replied with a shrug.

“You really don’t have much of a memory do you?” Wooyoung said with a bit of a perturbed expression, resting his hands on his hips. “Don’t worry, we will figure things out eventually. It’s just gonna take some time.”

Wooyoung had begun pacing in front of the bunk bed in contemplation, having been thrown off his original train of thought.

“Do you remember anything about your past life at all? Like, even your last name?”

Yeosang hesitated, deep in thought before shaking his head.   
  
“Do you know how long you’ve been down in the ravine?”   
  
Yeosang shook his head again.

Wooyoung sighed. “Alright well I never said I didn’t like a challenge.”

“I’m sorry I’m not much help. But thank you for trying anyways.” Yeosang said in a small voice.

“Don’t worry about it!” Wooyoung said in a chipper tone. “Now, like I said, just wait here and I’ll be back with some food for the both of us in a few minutes.”

Yeosang gave him a bit of a puzzled look at the mention of food ‘for the both of them’ but nodded and didn’t stop Wooyoung this time and he headed for the door. 

Once Wooyoung had left, Yeosang sat atop the bunk, leaning on the wooden railing and casually swinging his legs back and forth over the edge. For the first time he noticed that he wasn’t wearing any shoes and he thought to himself that was sort of odd. He also noticed how dirty his bare feet were despite being slightly transparent. He clumsily pulled his foot up, crossing his legs and resting it on his thigh as he attempted to wipe off the dirt but nothing seemed to work. Yeosang let out a long sigh and slumped further over the edge of the railing in an over-dramatic manner.

Even though Wooyoung had probably only been gone for ten or fifteen minutes it already felt like an eternity for Yeosang. As a ghost, time really held no meaning to him and he had become absolutely horrible at judging just how long a period of time was. He slowly pulled himself back up and began curiously looking around Wooyoung’s room. 

It was kind of sparse. 

Apparating down to the floor, he began to wander the small space, looking over various items of Wooyoung’s. Finding Wooyoung’s clothes from the night before slung over the desk chair, he lightly ran his fingers over the damp fabric but quickly recoiled his hand at the sensation. Normally when Yeosang tried to touch something his hand would just pass right through it. It was difficult enough to keep himself from phasing through floors or furniture but this was the first time he could actually  _ touch _ something. Actually  _ feel _ something.

Yeosang carefully reached out and grabbed onto the fabric of Wooyoung’s bright red hoodie, the one he had given him the night before. Very slowly and with a tremendous amount of effort he was able to pick it up off the chair and he quickly held it tightly against his chest, breathing in deeply and taking in the familiar scent of the cyprus trees of the ravine mixed with hints of Wooyoung’s cologne. Yeosang suddenly froze, his body going rigid and his eyes wide. How was he able to smell things? This had never happened before. He held up the hoodie to his nose and took into another deep whiff. But there it was, that familiar outdoorsy smell. And the cologne was fragrant with floral notes. Yeosang was completely bewildered at this new sensory discovery and pressed the fabric up against his face, continually taking in the wonderful scents. Was that even a hint of a detergent scent he could smell on the fabric?

At that moment the door to the room swung open and Wooyoung strolled back into the room, arms filled with takeout food. As soon as his eyes fell upon Yeosang sniffing his hoodie, he froze in his tracks and his expression melted into something much more concerned yet confused.

Yeosang stood there absolutely petrified for a brief moment before slowly lowering the hoodie from his face.

“It’s not what it looks like! I swear!” He blurted in a fit of embarrassment before disappearing, the hoodie dropping to the floor in a heap before he materialized sitting in the corner of the top bunk, tightly holding onto his knees and curling into a ball.

Wooyoung just gave his head a shake and continued into the room, placing the heavy bags of food down on his desk before bending down and picking up the hoodie off the floor. 

“If you really like that hoodie so much, you can have it.” Wooyoung scoffed.

He playfully tossed it up at Yeosang who let out a small cry as it draped over him.

“I’m sorry, it’s hard to explain but… I could… I could touch it? And smell it? And… well, uh, that’s not something I’ve been able to do before? So I got a little carried away.” Yeosang mumbled as he shrugged the hoodie off of him so that it lay on the bare mattress at his feet.

“I’ll take your word for it.” Wooyoung laughed. “Unless you turn out to be some sort of pervert ghost, then I’ll have to have you exorcised.”

If Yeosang had had the ability to blush his face would most definitely have burned bright red in embarrassment at that comment.

“P-pervert?!” He blurted out. “No. NO! No, definitely not!”   


“I mean, you don’t even know your last name or if you were human so how do you know you’re not a pervert?” Wooyoung teased.

Yeosang let out a small wail and quickly grabbed the hoodie, burying himself underneath it to disappear from sight.

“I’m only joking.” Wooyoung laughed, looking up at the small vibrating ball that was Yeosang huddled above him. “It’s fine, I trust you. Now come down here and we can have something to eat.”

Yeosang was reluctant at first but he cautiously emerged from underneath the hoodie and began to watch Wooyoung dig through his drawers, pulling out a couple of items and laying them out across his desk. There was the familiar clicking sound of a lighter quickly followed by the smell of melting paraffin wax.

“What _ is _ all this?” Yeosang asked, slowly crawling over to the edge of the bunk to get a closer look.

Wooyoung backed away revealing a massive spread of food with two giant lit candles placed at either side.

“It’s food,  _ obviously _ .” Wooyoung said playfully with a roll of his eyes. 

“No I meant — ”

“It’s not perfect but it’s a makeshift  japgwi offering because even ghosts need to eat sometimes. I hope it’s enough for you. I’m assuming you never got funeral rites so I used some funeral candles—my grandparents are shaman, I have a lot of weird stuff in my possession—to use as a conduit instead.” Wooyoung explained, cutting Yeosang off.

“What’s a japgwi?” Yeosang asked with a puzzled look.

“Technically  _ you _ are. It’s a sort of, uh, miscellaneous ghost? Like we don’t really know how you died or why you’re still here so it’s the closest definition I could give you… for now.”

“Valid… I guess?” Yeosang replied.

“Now come on down.” Wooyoung said, beckoning Yeosang once more with his hand.

Within a second Yeosang had appeared beside Wooyoung, pulling the borrowed hoodie tightly around his shoulders. Yeosang took in a deep breath and was quickly overwhelmed with all of the various food smells; fried rice, chicken, sauteed vegetables, spicy kimchi, rolled eggs… he could smell it  _ all _ .

“It smells absolutely delicious.” He commented, closing his eyes briefly as he savoured all the familiar scents.

“So you can actually smell it?” Wooyoung asked.

Yeosang happily nodded.

“Good. That means my patchwork ritual must be working. Here.” Wooyoung said, passing Yeosang a small plate which immediately passed through his hand, tumbling to the floor with a small thud.

“Sorry.” Yeosang said, hanging his head low. “I’m still figuring out how to do  _ things _ . It takes a lot of focus which I apparently don’t have yet.”

“It’s fine. We will start small.” Wooyoung said as he picked up a pair of wooden chopsticks and carefully passed them to Yeosang. 

Yeosang hesitantly reached out and with a lot of concentration he was able to take hold of the chopsticks, fumbling slightly before clutching onto them tightly.

“Why don’t you just pick through what you want, we will leave plates and stuff for next time. Don’t worry about making a mess.”

“Uh, okay.” Yeosang replied, eyeing over all the food.

Despite how hungry he was himself, Wooyoung merely watched over Yeosang as he would reach out towards one food before pulling back and then reach for another and pull back again as his indecision prohibited him from actually being able to eat for several excruciatingly long minutes.

“Why don’t you start with something small? Like the kimchi?” Wooyoung said, softly nudging Yeosang towards the dish nearest to him.

Yeosang’s hands were shaking from nerves but he finally made a move and picked up a small piece of kimchi.

“I actually picked it up!” Yeosang exclaimed, quickly turning to face Wooyoung with a bright smile.

Wooyoung gave a small reassuring nod as he urged him on. Yeosang carefully raised the kimchi to his lips and hesitated only briefly before shoving it in his mouth. Immediately the flavour overwhelmed him and he quickly clamped a hand over his own mouth. The crisp bite from the cabbage and the tangy heat from the seasoning filled his mouth and he savoured every morsel of flavour as he slowly chewed the kimchi. After swallowing he immediately looked down at the floor around him but there was no sign of the kimchi. He had actually eaten it! It was at that exact moment that he truly realized how utterly famished he was and immediately lunged at the food, shoveling several more bites of kimchi in his mouth. 

“Slow down, slow down!” Wooyoung laughed, noticing his suddenly frantic pace. “I know you must be hungry but you don’t want to overdo it!”

“Is jusso good!” Yeosang garbled out, his mouth already full of food.

“It’s only cafeteria kimchi.” Wooyoung huffed. “I promise I’ll get you some better stuff in the future but this should tide you over for now.”

Yeosang flitted from dish to dish, devouring as much as he could as quickly as he could while Wooyoung sat back and began slowly eating the portions he had set aside for himself. After about forty minutes there was not a single crumb left on any of the dishes. Yeosang took a couple steps backwards and flopped down on Wooyoung’s bed with a satisfied sigh.

“How do you feel?” Wooyoung asked as he got up to blow out the candles.

“So full. So… warm.” Yeosang groaned as he starfished his limbs out to his sides.

“Let me know what you liked best and next month I’ll get that for you again.”

“Next month?!” Yeosang cried, sitting up abruptly.

“Unfortunately this ritual only works once a month. But I’m sure you ate enough to last a decade.” Wooyoung laughed.

Yeosang flopped back down with a bit of a pout.

“The fried chicken. I really like that.” He replied quietly. “I… honestly didn’t know ghosts could eat.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re nice and fed so you don’t turn into a poltergeist.” Wooyoung said as he cleaned up the items from the takeout boxes, tossing some napkins at Yeosang. “Here, clean yourself up, your face is a mess.”

Yeosang focused to pick up the napkins and aggressively wiped the yangnyum chicken sauce from the corners of his mouth.

“Could I really turn into a poltergeist?” Yeosang asked.

Wooyoung shrugged. “Doubtful since you’ve already gone so long without eating, but better safe than sorry.”

Yeosang lay on Wooyoung’s bed as Wooyoung went about taking out the remainder of the trash.

“So who was that you were talking to earlier?” Yeosang asked offhandedly.

“My RA?” Wooyoung rebutted in a slightly confused tone as he came and sat down on the bed beside Yeosang.

“No, the other one. On the phone.”

“Oh Seonghwa?!” Wooyoung loudly exclaimed with a bit of a laugh. “He’s my friend and he's sort of the Mom of our friend group. And he’s filthy rich. We also work together sometimes doing exorcisms and stuff. He’ll probably be able to help us with your whole  _ situation _ .”

“Is he special like you?”

“Um, well, no not exactly. I’m a clairvoyant so like I can see and talk to you and sometimes I get like, visions? Like my dreams can sort of predict the future? But Seonghwa’s not like that. He’s human like me, but he’s a witch.”

“Ohhh I see.”

“Actually I think you’ll like my friends. Apart from Seonghwa there’s Hongjoong, he’s a vampire. Him and Seonghwa and basically married but don’t bring that up around them.” Wooyoung said with a snicker. “He likes to pretend he’s this cold and aloof creature of the night but really he’s a big softie. And he turns into the cutest little fuzzy bat sometimes. Definitely not some scary monster like what books make vampires out to be.”

Yeosang let out a small chuckle picturing some tall, dark and handsome man turning into a tiny non-threatening bat.

“Then there’s San and Yunho. San’s one of my best friends, you’ll probably be seeing him around a lot. He’s a fox demon so he’s one of the few who will probably be able to see you. He’s kind of petty though so don’t take any of his teasing personally. That’s just how fox demons are. Yunho is also human but he’s a werewolf so he sometimes has the brain of a golden retriever when it’s close to that time of the month. He’s mostly harmless though.”

Yeosang slowly sat up from the bed, clearly interested in everything Wooyoung was saying.

“There’s Mingi, he’s an incubus so I guess him being a demon means he would also be able to see you. He sleeps a lot so I don’t know how much you’ll actually see of him. He’s been having a rough time dealing with his incubus side since going through puberty so it’s best to just not bring it up.”

Yeosang had no idea what Wooyoung meant exactly but he still made a mental note not to bring it up whenever he eventually met this Mingi individual.

“Finally there’s Jongho, he only joined our group last year when he started at the school. He’s a dryad, like a tree nymph, and probably the only level-headed one out of all of us. He’s very shy but also incredibly strong. He usually keeps a tiny potted apple tree in his dorm. Never touch it. He will literally break your hand if you so much as lay a finger on a single leaf. Well, I guess you don’t really have fingers that he could break but it’s still best not to piss him off.”

“Your friends all sound very interesting.” Yeosang commented brightly.

“I can’t wait for you to meet them!” Wooyoung said with a contented sigh and he flopped back onto his bed.

“Are they going to be okay with me, you know, being dead?” Yeosang asked shyly.

“Technically Hongjoong is also not alive by human standards so you definitely won’t be the odd one out in that respect.” Wooyoung laughed.

“But most of them won’t even be able to see me…”

“There’s a charm Seonghwa has used before that borrows some of my powers to allow him to see spirits when we’re working so I’m sure he’ll be able to modify it so that we can all see you.” Wooyoung replied confidently.

Yeosang gave a small smile as he lay back down beside Wooyoung.

“I'm excited. Having friends will be nice.”

***

[Group Chat - 1:31 am]

**Yunho:** _Hey! Young-ah! You still up?_ _  
_ _Hello?_

[Group Chat - 1:48 am]

**Yunho:** _ Helllloooooooo~? _

[Group Chat - 1:52 am]

**Yunho:** _No? Alright._ _  
_ _Well anyways, Seonghwa pulled a Seonghwa again._ _  
_ _Me and San had our move-in day pushed up to tomorrow.  
_ _So… I guess see you soon?_ _  
_ **San:** _Yunho! Go to sleep!_ _  
_ _Move in is at like 10 am and I don’t want to be dealing with a cranky baby tomorrow._ _  
_ _And turn off the damn light._ _  
_ _I know you still have it on even when I’m not there._ _  
_ **Yunho:** _SIIIIGH. FIIIIINE._ _  
_ _Niiight~  
_ **San:** _That’s a good boy.  
_ _Nightnight my precious wittle puppy._ _  
_ **Yunho:** _[BLUSHING EMOJI]  
_ **Hongjoong:** _[VOMIT EMOJI] [VOMIT EMOJI] [VOMIT EMOJI]_ _  
_ **San:** _Screw off bat boy! [KNIFE EMOJI]_ _  
_ **Hongjoong:** __[EYEROLL EMOJI]


End file.
